Hacker Virus Scenario
Scenario
One Scenario
Two
Hacking
is a real phenomenon, but it is also highly
romanticised. It is recommended that this
scenario be approached with
reasonable caution.
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Scenario 1
It is the year 2015. A group of hackers known as
the Independent Division of International Organisations for Tampering (IDIOT) has
hacked into two of the worlds largest International Banks and destroyed
all credit and savings records, purely as a demonstration of their
technological ability. IDIOT are now threatening to undermine all global-network
systems unless their completely unreasonable and rather evil demands are
met. It is not possible to meet their demands.
What
organisations exist to deal with this issue and what powers do they have?
What responses are possible to this? What
technological developments are utilised by groups involved? How do safety mechanisms
currently in place to protect from hacking affect the rest of the community? What systems might be affected
by hacking and what effects would disruption to these systems mean in
western society? Would the impact be the same globally or are there local or
regional differences? What factors affect impact? In what ways does the
development of a 'global society' depend on being supported by electronic
distribution of information? What systems and institutions are most affected
by the threat of hacking? Is the threat of hacking a real phenomenon or
simply an unlikely fantasy? This scenario requires the development of an
understanding of the social issues raised by hacking a knowledge of potential
problems and understanding of options and solutions.
Scenario
2
It is the year 2016. It has been a rough
couple of years. Now a virulent
computer virus, known as Wide Extraction of Information and Replacement of
Data (WEIRD) has reached plague proportions. This virus extracts existing information
from networks and hard drives and replaces it with WEIRD nonsense. Governments are
calling on users to refrain from logging on to all networks in order to assist to reduce the
spread of the disease, and monitoring and surveillance of all national and international
networks have been stepped up.
What effects will an inability to use networks have? How
many and what types of systems are affected by this? Do these systems have a
geographic location? If they do, where are these systems? What technologies exist to deal with viruses and how do
these technologies impact on users? What types of responses are likely towards an increase in surveillance?
What ethical issues exist within this?
This scenario requires the development
of a broad understanding of the issue of technological viral-disease, especially as it affects networking.
The scenario deliberately raises potential infrastructure problems in order
to explore the social implications that arise from dependence on information
technology and to begin to develop their solutions or alternatives.
For Information on
different types of threats to networked technology through through government and community
agencies internet sites, you may wish to try
these useful web links
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